Ashley Cole beats Lucio.

By PA Sport Staff

It was an exciting adventure while it lasted but, in the end, England's World Cup campaign finished with more of a whimper than a bang.

There was no glorious failure, not even a penalty shoot-out defeat. Indeed, the only bad luck tale was a freak Brazilian goal.

This was instead just a promising group of players who, in the World Cup of shocks, had become one of the few sides to be beaten by the better team.

England had exceeded all reasonable expectations in setting up a tantalising quarter-final against Brazil and certainly laid down some solid foundations for the future.

However, this was simply one step too far so early in their development. When it mattered most, Sven-Goran Eriksson's young side were still found wanting.

When Brazil were harshly reduced to 10 men with 32 minutes left, England ran out of ideas as the South American's side supposed Achilles heel - their defence - proved to be their strength.

There will be those who blame David Seaman for misjudging a freak 30-yard free-kick by Ronaldinho, which sailed over his head to give Brazil the lead five minutes after the break.

The Arsenal keeper certainly seemed to hold himself partly responsible and was in tears at the final whistle in Shizuoka.

There will also be some who point to Brazil's equaliser on the stroke of half-time as the turning-point after David Beckham had lost possession, Paul Scholes failed to win the ball in midfield and Rivaldo exacted full advantage after a sparkling run by Ronaldinho.

Then there will be others who point to the hot and humid conditions, while insisting Beckham and Michael Owen, who had put England ahead amid such unfettered, glorious optimism, were simply not fully fit.

And they would all be right to some extent.

But the inescapable fact from England's 2-1 defeat was that even against 10 men for more than half an hour, after Ronaldinho was dismissed for a studs-first tackle on Danny Mills, they did not create a single meaningful chance.

With his side ahead, not once was keeper Marcos seriously tested. In fact, he did not have a memorable save to make all match.

He may have been beaten when defender Lucio's error in miscontrolling Emile Heskey's through-ball, following incisive build-up play by Paul Scholes and Mills, allowed Owen to pounce on 23 minutes.

But England lacked any real spark of creativity or imagination in the final half-hour, with Eriksson's supposed "fantasy" player, Joe Cole, strangely left on the sidelines.

"The only thing that I'm quite disappointed about is that we should have used the advantage to be one man up a little bit better than we did," admitted the England coach.

"I think we were tired at that time. We started to chase our second goal and it ended up that we lost patience and started to knock balls up to the three centre-backs of Brazil.

"When you are tired in the legs, even the brain suffers as well. They played very well 10 against 11, much better than we did, and that's a pity."

Brazil emerged with considerable credit, especially for their defence, which had been singled out as their likely weakness ahead of the game.

However, it would still be wrong to perceive any discredit in England's defeat.

It may have been a sad way to exit the tournament after promising so much in defeating Argentina and then Denmark.

But the spine of the team, namely Sol Campbell and Rio Ferdinand, as well as Nicky Butt and Paul Scholes, had little to reproach themselves for.

Others, such as Danny Mills, Seaman and Owen, as well as Sinclair and Ashley Cole in earlier games, had given their all, while Heskey had also improved with each performance.

However, when they needed an equaliser against Brazil, England simply could not fashion even the semblance of a clear-cut chance as the conditions sapped any remaining strength from their tiring limbs.

They had tried to pace themselves, even after Owen had given them the lead, but with half-time in sight, they allowed their concentration to slip with disastrous results.

Beckham tried to be too careful in evading a double-challenge and allowed Brazil to regain possession, with Ronaldinho embarking on a run which took him gliding straight through the heart of England's defences.

Having evaded the tackle of Ashley Cole, he lured Campbell into committing himself before slipping the ball to the now unmarked figure of Rivaldo, who swept a first-time shot into the far corner.

If that was a shattering blow to England's morale, even worse was to follow just after the restart.

Scholes needlessly conceded a free-kick but, with the ball 30 yards out and at a wide angle, there seemed little obvious danger. Or so Seaman thought.

Ronaldinho may have intended a cross or a shot. It did not really matter.

Either way, the ball sailed over Seaman's head even though he was just a couple of yards off his line, evoking memories of the way Nayim beat the Arsenal keeper for Real Zaragoza in the 1995 Cup Winners' Cup final.

England were down but not yet out, for Ronaldinho's joy was short-lived.

When he was bizarrely sent off by a referee who had earlier allowed several potential bookings to go unpunished, Eriksson's side were suddenly given renewed hope.

But even as Kieron Dyer, Teddy Sheringham and Darius Vassell came on, little really changed as Brazil cleverly closed the game down and ran out time.

Frustration levels duly rose as the clock ticked down but there could be few complaints at the outcome. England had yet again been so near, yet ultimately so far away.

Teams

England: Seaman, Mills, Campbell, Ferdinand, Ashley Cole (Sheringham 79), Beckham, Scholes, Butt, Sinclair (Dyer 56), Owen (Vassell 79), Heskey.

Subs Not Used: Bridge, Brown, Joe Cole, Fowler, Hargreaves, James, Keown, Martyn, Southgate.

Booked: Scholes, Ferdinand.

Goals: Owen 23.

Brazil: Marcos, Roque Junior, Lucio, Edmilson, Cafu, Gilberto, Ronaldinho, Kleberson, Carlos, Ronaldo (Edilson 70), Rivaldo.

Subs Not Used: Belleti, Ceni, Denilson, Dida, Juninho Paulista, Junior, Kaka, Luizao, Polga, Ricardinho, Vampeta.

Sent Off: Ronaldinho (58).

Goals: Rivaldo 45, Ronaldinho 50.

Att: 47,436

Ref: F Ramos Rizo (Mexico).